It had been a while since Joe Schmiade was in a classroom, or worried about homework.
"Not since high school," chuckles the 21-year veteran of the Northern Kentucky Water District.
But when the ever-changing technology of his job threatened to overtake his experience, Schmiade was one of six Northern Kentucky Water District staffers to jump at the chance of returning to school. Taking advantage of a partnership between their employer and Gateway Community and Technical College, the six graduated this week with three college certificates each, ranging from mechanical and electrical industrial maintenance specialties to integrated manufacturing skills.
Their success is being touted as the first by the "co-hort" partnership between the school and industry, sparked by Gateway's institution of its Center for Workforce Development. Tasked with looking after the continuing education needs of the local economy, the school has long been training local workers from more than 300 companies annually. After doing a transcript review of all the workers they had trained, it discovered that quite a few, by virtue of the classes they had already taken, were close to earning college certification in a number of areas.
At the same time, the Water District was slowly realizing that it no longer had the ability do "on-the-job" training of its staffers. The equipment involved has become highly technical.
"There's a lot of electrical equipment, a lot of rotating stuff, mixers, computers and electronics. All of our equipment is becoming a lot more complex than it used to be," says Bari Joslyn, the Water District's vice president of water quality and production. "It's like the difference between cars 50 years ago and now. So, the work is taking more and more skills."
Adds Schmiade, "The technology's always changing, always becoming more technical. I've been here long enough to see those changes, and then see it all change again."
So, as the Water District began to cast about to look for someone to do the training, Gateway came calling.
According to Philip Accardi, the director of Gateway's Center for Workforce Development, their in-house review of transcripts showed that Schmiade and his co-workers were a class or two away from earning certificates, a college-level credential short of an associate's or bachelor's degree and later transferable should they consider pursuing a degree. The Water District was one of the first companies Gateway contacted to participate in its new accreditation push.
Their course work, embedded in Gateway's associate's degree programs, are customized for each company. It's also subsidized by a grant from the Kentucky WINS, a program open to state-based companies for continuing education administered by the Kentucky Community and Technical College system. In the case of the Water District, the grant paid roughly half of the cost of the training.
"When we contacted the Water District, they were really enthused. They had no idea that we could do all that, and that the grant money was there," says Accardi.
Schmiade and his classmates started back to school last year, and recently finished up their course work that he says was very 'hands-on" and specific to the equipment they see every day on their jobs.
Despite some early trepidation about returning to school decades since last entering a classroom, Schmiade says it was "well worth it."
Now, he and the others are qualified to do work that the Water District used to have to contract out to specialists, saving the company maintenance money. And they have a step up when it comes to career advancement.
The Water District is considering making the course work through Gateway mandatory for all its workers. But Joslyn said it already deemed it essential for any of its staffers that want to move forward through its ranks.
"It definitely opens paths to them. When higher-level jobs come open in the future, we will certainly lean toward people with that technical background," she says. "We've already seen them take what they learned at Gateway and put it to use with us. We're seeing the value of it, right now."
While the "Water District six" are the first graduates from the program, many will soon follow.
Accardi reports that the Center for Workforce Development's transcript review found many companies in the same situation as the Water District, with a number of employees tantalizingly close to earning college certificates. They're working with those companies to bring their workers back to school, and several are already in classes.
"We're excited about it," he says. "Not only does it get those workers back in school, but in some cases it may inspire others, even family members, to consider continuing their education, going back to college or going to college for the first time."
SOURCES: Bari Joslyn, Vice President of Water Quality and Production/Northern Kentucky Water District; Joe Schmiade/Northern Kentucky Water District; Philip Accardi, Director/Center for Workforce Development, Gateway Community and Technical College